


Island

by saltymermaid



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Enjoy!, M/M, basically just a sappy love letter from keith to lance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-01
Updated: 2018-02-01
Packaged: 2019-03-12 10:41:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,819
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13545660
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/saltymermaid/pseuds/saltymermaid
Summary: Keith marvels at how much his relationship with Lance has changed him, and how glad he is that he is no longer alone.





	Island

**Author's Note:**

> This piece was originally written for a fanzine, but I am now allowed to release it in it's entirety. I hope you like it! Constructive criticism is always appreciated :)

Whenever Keith says that Lance is captivating, his friends tend to take it as a hyperbole. Pidge rolls her eyes with a small smile, muttering about disgusting couples, and Hunk clasps his hands with glee and loudly declares Keith and Lance to be soulmates. Shiro will chuckle a bit and pat Keith on the back, and Allura waggles her eyebrows and teases him about going soft.

He doesn’t think that they truly understand what he’s saying when he calls his boyfriend captivating. He means that sometimes, when Lance catches his eye, the air is snatched out of his lungs and he finds himself unable to look away. His every movement holds Keith’s gaze in handcuffs, and he is unable to do anything else but drink in the beautiful person before him, nothing but a captive to Lance’s existence. He finds everything about him to be entrancing, and he notices it all, every single thing about him. Keith notices that Lance is never truly still, always tapping his foot or bouncing his knee or nodding his head, creating the rhythm to a silent song that exists only between him and his observer. Keith notices that Lance laughs with his whole body, eyes crinkling in the corners as his lips turn up and he throws his head back, slapping his knee as he howls and snorts in joy. Keith notices that Lance’s eyes aren’t a flat brown at all, but have tiny gold flecks in them, hidden away especially for those moments between kisses. Keith notices that Lance’s movements are always fluid and dynamic, never choppy or uncomfortable or jarring, even when he turns up his theatrical antics. Keith notices the way the atmosphere of rooms change the second Lance walks in, and how everyone’s souls always seem a bit lighter after Lance offers them a sideways grin. Keith notices the way that his slight freckles are like constellations, and how his dimples are like tiny suns, radiating nothing but pure happiness. Lance’s beauty is its own galaxy, the brilliance of millions of stars combined into one being, and Keith finds it impossible to look away from.

He had never been one to put much value on the study of art. He had always thought that the time wasted staring at a painting could be much better spent doing something else, such as studying, or training, or working. But now that he is lucky enough to call Lance his, he understands. There is no possible way that his time could better be spent than taking in all of the wonder that is Lance McClain, his boyfriend, his personal galaxy, his walking gallery of art. Not only was this the best use of his time, it was the only way he ever wanted to spend his time. He was now entirely convinced that before he found Lance, he was not truly living, just ghosting well enough to get by. Through Lance, he has found completion.

If you had presented such sappy thoughts to the Keith of last year, he would scoff. Old Keith Kogane didn’t believe in romance. If you pushed him hard enough, then maybe, just maybe, he’d admit that some people needed companionship to survive. But not him. He was an island, a lone wolf, a voyager. He needed no one and nothing but himself to survive. Significant others were for the weak, he’d scoff, all the while ignoring the aching feeling that would rise in his chest when he would see couples walking past, swinging their clasped hands and laughing, a feeling that he refused to name.

But if he had named it, it’s name would be longing, and Loneliness. As much as he shirked the very idea of relationships, for the entirety of his life, Keith had relied upon Loneliness as his companion. Loneliness wore masks to hide herself from her lover, the mask of Independence, of Strength, of Self-Reliance. But in reality, Loneliness was none of these things. She was a liar, a manipulator, who by tricking Keith into thinking that she marked what made him tough and special, isolated him. People would filter in and out of his life, teachers, peers, foster parents, but ultimately, Loneliness was his only constant. Keith used her as a shield against the world, preferring to be alone than to be hurt. Because in his experience, that’s what relationships do.

They hurt.

His abusive foster mom hurt, his father that abandoned him hurt, the bullies at school hurt, Iverson’s harshness hurt, being told that he wasn’t good enough hurt, being lied to hurt, not knowing where he came from hurt, the laugher from his classmates hurt, people hurt. Over and over again, he had been hurt by relationships and people in those relationships. The only thing that hadn’t hurt him was Loneliness. She took him up in her arms and cooed in his ear that with her, by himself, he was safe. He could never be hurt again. It was a deception that he accepted, because it was sweet and easy to swallow and soothed the sting that the world had left on his tongue.

But after a while, too much sweetness turns to bitterness. And after years of allowing loneliness to pen him in with her lies and masks and sugary syrups, Keith began to grow restless. He had always convinced himself to ignore the pang, that of course he wasn’t jealous, that would be foolish. But at the Garrison, he started to see past the masks that Loneliness wore.

The cleverest cadet in his class had crush after crush, the girl with the 4.7 GPA was never without her girlfriend at her side, the spunky boy with the bright blue hair was always flirting with someone new. Person after person displayed to him that strength, independence, and fierceness is not the same as Loneliness. Little by little, he started to see how the hug Loneliness had him in was actually a chokehold. He was suffocating.

The worst part of this newfound self awareness was that there was no visible solution. He was completely isolated from all of his peers, and although it was completely by choice at the time, he now saw the stupidity in thinking that his high walls would keep pain out. If anything, it kept all the pain trapped inside, with not a soul to share it with. Every social interaction that he was not a part of put another gash in his heart, all of the laughs shared that he was excluded from, all of the whispered conversations that he was not invited to. He truly had no one, and it was all his doing. For the first time in his life, he didn’t see his love affair with Loneliness as a guard, but as a burden, and he could do nothing about it.

Enter Lance McClain.

The boy with the crooked grin and bright white teeth, the sparkling eyes and the thick dark lashes, the flawlessly smooth skin. He was charming, he was goofy, he was witty, he was sociable. He was everything that Keith found himself unable to be. As much as he didn’t want to admit it, part of him hated Lance for that. He hated that Lance embodied everything that he wished he was. He was always surrounded by a swarm of friends, always seemed to have his head thrown back in laughter. He was light purified into a human body, and it seeped out of him through every pore, shining and shimmering onto everyone he made contact with. Keith wanted desperately to have that light on his hands. To talk to Lance McClain. To hold him. To kiss him. Each class they had together he spent with his head down, cheeks burning, pretending not to hear Lance’s giggles or see the corners of his beautiful eyes crinkle in a smile.

His walls were still up, and Loneliness still had her hold on him. Lance had no way of knowing, but he was starting to pry her cold fingers off of Keith’s heart and replace it with the licking of a warm flame, a new flame, a sensation totally new to the talented fighter pilot.

Keith had a crush.

And he didn’t want to be alone anymore.

When he got kicked out of the Garrison, he feared what his future would be without the light that Lance provided. Without even a word, Lance had changed him, and now he would never see him again. Keith was terrified that Loneliness would worm her way back into him again. Who would’ve thought that all it would take five mecha magic flying alien space cats to bring them together again and suck out the last bits of Loneliness’ power?

He was bathed in Lance’s light, day in and day out, and soon it covered every bit of Keith’s being. Not only was Keith talking to the most beautiful being in the galaxy, but the most beautiful being in the galaxy was talking back to him. No, the most beautiful being in the galaxy was teasing him as he jabbed his elbow into Keith’s side. Like they were friends.

Lance offered him his friendship, and fanned the flames of Keith’s crush. That crush grew with every moment he spent in his presence, and before Keith knew it, he was in love. And by some twist of fate, the most beautiful being in the galaxy loved him back.

People may claim that they are happy as islands. Keith scoffs at the sentiment. After all, he was once an island himself, and he knew that no happiness could be derived from it. Only numbness. And Keith was tired of feeling numb. Here, in Lance’s light, in Lance’s love, he will never have to feel numb again. He can spend the rest of his life breathing in the glory of his soulmate, feeling his warmth in his hands and running his fingers through his hair and taking in the masterpiece that was every piece of Lance’s being.

Keith is in love with his gait. With his chuckle. With his gap tooth. With his quirked brow and soft stomach and elegant hands. Keith is in love with him. The island man is now a planet in Lance’s gravity, pulled into Lance’s universe and captivated there. He enjoys every moment that Lance has him tied to him, and he hoped to god that he will never find himself in the place to label himself the lone wolf again.

No man can survive alone, no human being was designed to exist in solitary. Each and every person needs someone else who makes life worth living. This is a fact.

Lance is Keith’s person, and Keith is Lance’s person. This is a fact, and this is constant, and this is safe. Lance is safe. And Keith can’t wait to spend each second he has here, with Lance, basking in his light.

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! Hello! It's been a while!
> 
> So, a brief life update: As some of you know, I'm a senior in high school, which means that life is insane. I also happen to be very involved in local politics, so for the past year I have been working on the political career of others and starting my own. I interned on a campaign this past election cycle, and worked on a team of determined people to elect the first ever Latina immigrant to the Virginia House of Delegates. Additionally, I received my first ever government position this year. I now work in an appointed representative position on my school board, which is definitely a lot of work, but I love it more than I can say. Add in my retail job, school, college apps, working in the nursery, and school and clubs, and you have one very busy Kate! However, I have desperately missed writing, and am trying to carve out some time to let my creative juices flow. 
> 
> So, long story short, I'm back! As always, please let me know if you have any requests. I am willing to write for a large number of fandoms, such as Voltron (duh), Miraculous, Gravity Falls, Danny Phantom, Be More Chill, Heathers, etc. If you have a request for anything, please let me know!
> 
> Thank you so much for reading, and have a lovely day <3


End file.
